Claims
- 1. A pet food product comprising: N pieces wherein N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of an animal, and N equals 1 to less than 10 pieces.
- 2. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein N pieces provide the complete and balanced daily nutritional requirements of an animal.
- 3. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein each of the N pieces has an inner component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 2760 Max Force and an outer component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 300 Max Force.
- 4. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein each of the N pieces has a brittleness value in the range of 430 to 1160 mm, a toughness value in the range of 0.5 to 5.5 Work and a hardness value in the range of 70 to 520 Max Force.
- 5. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein each of the N pieces has about 1.4 to 8.4 Kcalories per gram, a caloric density of about 1.8 to 11.1 Kcal/cm3 and a caloric content between 20 to 2500 calories per piece.
- 6. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein each piece is comprised of two components, an outer component and an inner component.
- 7. The pet food product of claim 6, wherein the inner and outer component have a different quality selected from the group consisting of hardness, brittleness, toughness, density, caloric density, calories per gram and color.
- 8. The pet food of claim 6, wherein the inner component comprises 10 to 90% of the product.
- 9. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein the product has a protein content in the range of 18 to 65 wt %, a carbohydrate content in the range of 30 to 70 wt %, a fat content in the range of 3 to 20 wt % and a fiber content in the range of 0 to 10 wt %.
- 10. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein the product has a water activity of less than 0.9.
- 11. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein the product is a single component.
- 12. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein the pet food product is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.
- 13. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein the product has a longitudinal shape and a cross sectional shape in the form of a modified triangle having a length greater than 0.75 cm and a cross sectional area in the range of 3.0 to 18.0 cm2.
- 14. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein the product has a weight in the range of 20 to 400 grams.
- 15. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein each piece is cohesive.
- 16. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein N is 1, 2 or 3.
- 17. The pet food product of claim 1, wherein an N piece has a consumption time of five to sixty minutes.
- 18. A pet food product comprising an inner component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 2760 Max Force, an outer component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 300 Max Force and a caloric density of about 1.8 to 11.1 Kcal/m3, wherein the pet food product is a nutritionally complete meal.
- 19. The pet food product of claim 18, wherein the product has a brittleness in the range of 430 to 1160 mm, a toughness in the range of 0.5 to 5.5 Work and a density in the range of 0.6 to 1.7 g/cm3.
- 20. A method of feeding an animal comprising the step of feeding an animal N pieces of a pet food product wherein N equals 1 to 15 in which N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of the animal.
- 21. The method of claim 20, wherein N is dependent upon the weight of the animal.
- 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the pet food product is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.
- 23. A pet food product comprising a nutritional complete meal having a ‘well-being’ score of at least 3.2.
- 24. The pet food product of claim 23, wherein the complete meal has an ‘occupation’ and/or ‘chewing satisfaction’ score of at least 3.3, a ‘convenience’ and/or ‘messiness’ score of at least 3.4 and a ‘texture’ score of at least 3.
- 25. A method of feeding an animal comprising the step of feeding an animal a pet food product comprising a nutritionally complete meal having a ‘well-being’ score of at least 3.2, wherein the pet food product has a length greater than 0.75 cm and a cross sectional area in the range of 3.0 to 13.0 cm2.
- 26. A pet food product manufactured by the method of:
a. blending and batching selected ingredients; b. processing the ingredients through at least one extruder; c. moving the extrudate through a die head; wherein said product comprises N pieces wherein N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of an animal, and N equals 1 to 15 pieces.
- 27. A method of feeding an animal comprising the step of feeding a preferred pet food product to the animal, wherein the pet food product is a nutritionally complete meal and is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.
- 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the pet food product is preferred by 60% of dogs over a standard dry kibble pet food.
- 29. The method of claim 27, wherein the pet food product comprises a nutritionally complete meal having a ‘well-being’ score of at least 3.2.
- 30. The method of claim of 27, wherein the pet food product comprises N pieces wherein N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of an animal, and N equals 1 to 15 pieces.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/244,259 filed on Sep. 16, 2002 which is incorporated in its entirety herein.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10244259 |
Sep 2002 |
US |
Child |
10789538 |
Feb 2004 |
US |